Lisa Loeb

Singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb broke through in a big way in 1994 when her folk-pop song “Stay (I Missed You)” became a No. 1 hit after appearing on the Reality Bites movie soundtrack, making Loeb the first artist without a record deal to top the charts. • Loeb got started as a musician while studying at Brown University in Rhode Island, where she was half of the duo Liz and Lisa with singer Elizabeth Mitchell. Their classmate Duncan Sheik sometimes accompanied them on guitar. • Her first solo recording was the 1992 demo Purple Tape, which featured 10 songs consisting mostly of Loeb’s voice and acoustic guitar. She released it again in 2008 as a two-CD package with an interview disc. • “Stay (I Missed You)” ended up on the Reality Bites soundtrack through Ethan Hawke, one of the film’s stars, who was her friend and neighbor in New York. Hawke, who gave the song to Reality Bites director Ben Stiller, also directed a video for the song. • Loeb released her first proper LP, Tails, in 1995. Credited to Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, the album includes “Stay (I Missed You)” and new versions of four songs from Purple Tape. The album reached No. 30 in the US, and the single “Do You Sleep?” was a Top 20 hit. • Her 1997 album Firecracker yielded another Top 20 song, “I Do.” • Though Loeb has effectively disappeared from the charts, she continues to make new music, including albums for adults and for kids (one of which, 2003’s Catch the Moon, was a collaboration with Elizabeth Mitchell).